Public Pond Survey

• Apr. 24 by Katie Graczyk (0)

As discussed in a previous article, ponds are a great resource for communities and a haven for wildlife.  However, information on what’s inhabiting these ponds isn’t always easily available.  The Birmingham City Council wants to know more about the wildlife in gardens and ponds throughout the city.

To find this information out, they offer a public pond survey online to retrieve data for regional and national wildlife databases. They do offer some information on their site about some of what they already know exists in the area such as-

Amphibians

• Common Frog – Spawn in jelly-like mass, smooth skin, 6-10cm, very variable in colour
• Common Toad – Spawn in strings, dry, warty skin, 8-15cm
• Smooth Newt – Male has no break in crest. Up to 9 cm long
• Great Crested Newt – Male has break in crest between body and tail. Up to 15cm long

Damselflies and Dragonflies

• Large Red Damselfly – Has a thin red body and flies late April to August
• Brown Hawker – Large and brown body, amber tinted wings in flight
• Common Darter – Medium sized, orange-red tips on wings
• Broad Bodied Chaser – Bluish abdomen in males, yellow-brown in females
• Nymphs – There are two types. Damselfly (pictured) has three tails. Dragonfly has no tail

Small Pond Animals

• Pond Snail - Up to 50mm. Opening on right side
• Ramshorn – Many species 2- 37 mm across
• Bladder Snail – Up to 10mm. Opening on left side
• Pond Skater – Over 10mm. Skates rapidly, feeding on pond surface
• Mayfly Larva – 3 long tails and gills on side
• Water Slater – Like a woodlouse, eats dead leaves
• Water Shrimp – Between 6-18mm, eats dead leaves

I’ve asked my social forum members on greenerpeople if they’d fill out forms like this and if they’d ever done so in the past.  I’d like to find out how successful the public thinks these surveys are and if they think there isroom for improvement on obtaining additional data in this area.  Further updates when more feedback comes in…